Nightmare
by Yunnu
Summary: Fluffy non-BL oneshot. Post FE9/Pre FE10. Rolf has a frightening nightmare and he feels he needs to vent to Shinon. Rated T for violence and minor coarse language.


First attempt at writing silly fluff in like… 4 years. Might not be as good as I wished it was. Constructive criticism is highly appreciated.

**Warnings**: Violence, death (dream-only), BL (a.k.a. Yaoi) if you squint really, really hard. Maybe some OOCness too.

_words in italic - _Dream passage  
'_words'_ - thoughts 

**Nightmare**

He woke up startled in the middle of the night, sweat soaking his small green eyebrows. Bringing a small nimble hand to his head, he wiped the sweat away, sighing in relief. He took a glance around the bedroom, as if to make sure that it had been only a nightmare. Both of his brothers were sleeping soundly and peacefully. Yet, that didn't lessen his fears at all, as he felt he had to make sure "Uncle Shinon" - how he used to call the older sniper - was well.

"_Rolf!" a shout emitted from a companion of Rolf's echoed in the air, followed by a warning. _

"_Watch out!"_

_Surprised, he whipped around just to see an arrow coming his way, which was, supposedly, aimed at him. Following the arrow, in the opposite way, came an axe-wielder soldier, his hands clutching a killer axe. Next thing he knew, he was thrown onto the ground, alive and well, much unlike the person who had just saved his life. Red blood stained the ground, like on every mission they go, but this time … the blood belonged to someone he adored and worshiped._

_With shaking hands, he grabbed an arrow from his quiver, adjusted it to his bow, then shot; killing the Berserker with only one shot through the stomach. Crawling, he approached the lying figure on the ground, unnoticed tears falling from his eyes. Pulling the bleeding man slowly to his lap, he whispered words of relief. "Please, hang on, Uncle Shinon … Mist is coming, she'll heal you and you'll be alright… please, just hang on."_

_As soon as Mist finished off the archer who had just attempted to kill Rolf, she ran up to them readying her staff. "Oh, Rolf …! What happened?" she exclaimed, trying not to lose her control before the eyes of the already shaken Rolf. _

_Teary blue eyes peered up at her, not trying to hold back the tears running down the soft cheeks._

"… _M-mist, please save him! Please…" He sniffed, his whole body shaking in fear. Fear of losing a dear person._

_The young girl did as she was asked to; kneeling down in front of both snipers, she tried to concentrate as much as she could._

_But she didn't make it in time._

He slowly made his way to the farthest room in the fort, rubbing his weary eyes. He peered up at the hard wooden door in front of him, hesitating. Placing one small hand on the doorknob, he twisted it, opening the door as careful as he could. The room was not as big as his brothers and his' and Rolf could notice that neither of the two friends that shared that small room was too organized, due to the thorn and dirty clothes piled on a corner. Still hesitating, he stepped inside, glancing around every now and then.

He approached the bed his mentor was sleeping on and couldn't help but feel anxious. Part of him wanted to wake the other sniper up so that he could vent his fears to him and sleep in peace afterwards. Yet, the other part of him was afraid of what the usually hostile man could do, but he decided it didn't really matter at that moment. He was scared, he would admit it, and needed to talk so that he could forget the frightening nightmare he had just had.

Rolf gently plunked himself down on the hard floor, not averting his gaze from the older sniper, still pondering about his choice. 'But … what if he gets angry?' Shaking his head and trying hard to put those thoughts aside, he carefully reached out to lay one hand on the sniper's arm. He shook Shinon ever so lightly, until he saw the body stir.

"Um… U-uncle Shinon?" he whispered in a husky voice, wishing said man had heard him. No, he probably didn't. Rolf had to muster up some courage and shook the man a little harder before drawing his hand away in surprise.

A pair of greenish eyesopened slowly. "A-ah, sorry, uncle Shinon …" the green haired boy stuttered out sheepishly, nervously folding his hands on his lap.

Shinon blinked, as if trying to make a line of coherent thoughts about what exactly on earth was going on. With a sigh, he finally asked "… What is it, Rolf?"

The young boy's eyes roamed up to meet the older sniper's stare for a second, only to glance down at his lap once again.

"Um … I, I … had a n-nightmare." Came the low reply. Shinon arched an eyebrow, sending a stare that could only be classified as incredulous.

He ran a hand through his messy hair and replied harshly, "Well? And what do you expect me to do? Watch over you until you fall asleep to make sure nothing's gonna happen?" Rolf's eyes watered up a bit after hearing the harsh remark.

Seeing that the boy before him was starting to feel somewhat nervous, ashamed and above all, hurt, Shinon let out an exasperated sigh, pulling himself to his feet. That way things would only worsen, so he walked out of the room groggily, beckoning Rolf to follow him. The young archer got up clumsily, almost falling down back, and then followed Shinon out of the room.

Closing the door behind him, Shinon leaned on the wall close to him for support. His body was feeling so heavy and weary that he couldn't even stand straight. Rolf settled himself right beside Shinon, fiddling with the sleeves of his sleeping clothes, unsure of what to say or do. He eyed Shinon with the corner of his eyes, as if looking for a good opportunity to restart the conversation.

"… So, Uncle Shinon … Would you mind hearing what I have to say?" Rolf asked cautiously and heard a long sigh and a grunt as a reply.

"Heck, as long as it doesn't take all night… Well, start talking."

Rolf sat down on the hard ground and pulled Shinon down by the hand, so that he could sit closer to the sniper.

Cleaning his dry throat, he began "Well … it all started with someone warning me about something, which I didn't know what was, then all I knew was that you were lying on a pool of your own blood…" his voice trailed off. "Y-you shielded me from an enemy attack - you got h-hurt in my place …" he found this was too much overwhelming for him. Not that he had never witnessed death before, he had, however, only death of enemies, people who were in a way or another, trying to do harm to those he loved.

Trying to hold back a sniffle, he continued "S-seconds later, Mist came to our aid with her staff, but … you were a-already …" as he found himself unable to keep talking, he took a deep breath and brought one hand to his face, to wipe away the tears which were threatening to fall, but halted when he felt a strong, yet gentle hand grasping at his bony wrist.

"There's no need to try to hide your tears now, Rolf." Shinon said indifferently, yet Rolf could notice the concern in the man's voice.

"B-but, you're always the one who says I mustn't cry!" The young archer protested, his gaze now fixed on his mentor.

The redhead clicked his tongue in annoyance and shook his head in disapproval. "Sure, but we're not on a battlefield at this very moment, are we? And besides, who knows what will happen tomorrow on the battlefield if you don't release your grief now? I might have to babysit you and that's not something I enjoy doing at all."

Before Shinon knew it, the young boy had latched onto him, wrapping skinny arms around his torso.

Partly astonished by the sudden embrace, yet somewhat secretly glad the young boy seemed slightly calmer at this moment, Shinon returned the affectionate embrace awkwardly, moving his left arm around Rolf's skinny body to show him some comfort. He had never been this close to anyone, not to mention to a kid.

They stayed like that for some few moments, until the younger of the two broke the silence and the embrace. "sniff … s-sowwy, Shinon…" taking a deep sigh, he sat back down on the spot he sat before the sudden outburst.

He could hear faint cussing growls as the redhead turned his head to the opposite direction, then back to him again.

As usual, a quiet grumble came as a reply, "Pah, now that you've got what you want, you'll let me go back to sleep, right?"

For a second, Rolf stared hesitantly at his folded hands, then the answer came, followed by a smile. "Aa, yes, of course, Uncle Shinon." Then, he launched himself again onto the taller man, pulling him into a tight hug.

"Thanks so much for listening to me. My brothers would never do something like that, they would just say something like 'Rolf, nightmares aren't real.' and tell me to go back to bed. But you listened and that means a lot to me." Then, he let go of Shinon.

After that, the green-haired-boy bowed slightly, before showing a genuine smile of gratitude, "Thanks, Uncle Shinon!" he added, setting off back to his room.

Shinon just sat there, looking a bit puzzled and sleepy. As he pulled himself up to his feet, he couldn't hide the small smile that tugged slightly at his lips. The boy was such a sweet and pure kid that could even get through the toughest of masks. 

A/N.: There, my second Oneshot. This one's longer than the first and was harder to write as well. I hope it was at least enjoyable, I worked hard on this and surely enjoyed writing it.


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